The Tulsa massacre had been largely absent from our classrooms and our history books. If it was included at all, it was merely a footnote. We need to understand why, and why this isn’t the only overlooked chapter of our history.
Liz Feichter: this was the most shameful history of our Country. No, it wasn’t taught in schools (class of 55) nor in college during an extra term for those who signed up for it. How many more hidden histories will appear?
thanks. i would suggest that you might get a copy of “ocoee burning” myra kinnie. just to see at the same time central florida’s families of color were experiencing similarities.
As a retired teacher who has been out of teaching for 15 years, I can speak to what has and hasn’t been taught by schools in Florida. We did not teach the truth concerning our country’s history during the 20 years that I taught. I am not hopeful that this will be corrected. I read daily about states’ legislatures trying to stop any truthful updates about our history as it relates to treatment of minorities especially Black History. This is detrimental to our democracy! We must know the truth or how will we make decisions about our future. My eyes are open and I will not turn away. This is not an option no matter what Republicans try to do to stop this process.
President Biden's speech at the Greenwood Cultural Center in Tulsa on June 1st is worth watching in its entirety if you have not. Or reading the full transcript if you prefer. The details of the massacre and destruction that happened there 100 years ago are horrific and almost unbelievable. As well as the fact that a century ago 30,000 Ku Klux Klan members in full regalia marched down Pennsylvania Ave in Washington DC, and that dozens of members in the US Congress as well as state governors were open Klan members. But Biden's remark about how back then the Klan was against guys like himself who were Catholic caught my attention and forced me to read about the history of the KKK.
I did not realize that religious discrimination, specifically Protestant Klan members being against Catholics, as well as Blacks and Jews (and others), was such a big part of the history of the KKK. And I did not know that there were actually three risings of the KKK since the US Civil War (1865, 1915, and 1950-60's). This is some very ugly and difficult history, and its maybe a little too easy for some of us (especially white folks) to dismiss the KKK as a bunch of clowns in costumes but I think that we could all probably use a serious and formal lesson about the history of the Ku Klux Klan. So here I am relearning our history and trying to help fill some holes.
I am embarrassed to say that at the age of 60, I knew nothing about the Tulsa Massacre. I went to a very forward thinking school & we had computer science, AP courses, even college courses, but never learned of this is history class. Teach ALL of our history, there is much to learn (good & bad) and then, try not to repeat the same mistakes over & over.
I didn't encounter to much racism growing up in the south side of Chicago. There was a lot of diversity with the children. We got to know our friends and thier families. What helped ir seemed to me was the hospitality shown to all who came into thier homes. We were told about why they left thier countries. But they showed forgiveness of what was done and were determined not to inflict pain on others or make them feel. Uncomfortable . i learned a lot from that as a child. It has helped me so much with different people of race that i have met. And even when there are people of different race and show so much anger to you i remember those other people that demonstrated forgive and love and acceptance.
This reminds me why "teach ins" during the campaign for civil and voting rights during the 1960s was important. I learned what was really happening and why. All these things that were absent from my official schooling. Nothing can be fixed if no one knows what's wrong. Truth, all of it, is paramount.
This has not only been a great look at history, but has helped me with current events. Gov Ron DeSantis (R-FL) has recently gone on a rant against Critical Race Theory. Threatening action against anyone who teaches it. And I have to admit that I was clueless as to what this was about. Until I read your article. Great job. And thank you.
Beautiful words as always! Often when reading about America I see parallels between the country and the roman empire; but I often think of Americans inability to reconcile with their past in contrast with the Germans after World War 2 ,and their ability to recognize one of the dark chapters in world history and how they moved forward with teaching about the Holocaust in their education system. Why do you think the German people where able to "swallow" their National Pride while Americans cling to theirs? Is it that the shattering of American exceptionalism would be too much for so many who cling to this idea? How do we move forward to a more perfect and just union? The world is a better place when we acknowledge our failures as well as our triumphs. Thank you for your words and take care always!
In these uncertain times, it is good to know that we still have the voice of Dan Rather to steady the decency and honesty that marked American journalism for so many years. Thank you for reporting on the history we were never taught. I also learned of the Bisbee Arizona riots, a terrible mass murder preceded by kidnapping and relocation of corporately inconvenient citizens who didn't serve the interests of a Bisbee mining Mogul who believed himself above the law. Some 2,000 people were moved, in an illegal kidnapping. The terrible shameful history of abuses of Big Corporations has never seemed so evil and blatantly self serving to me. To believe that you're entitled to remove people from their homes because they decided to strike. Unfathomable.
A few years ago, I watched a documentary at a church in Charlotte about MLK and non-violent protest. It was a horrifying moment in my life, the day that I discovered my education was "White Washed". What was particularly horrifying was the realization that the few pictures that I had ever seen of historic events, such as the lunch counter sit-ins, or the march across the Edmund Pettus Bridge were misrepresented. The only peaceful people there were the ones being ridiculed, beaten, and abused. Watching video of people being kicked and dragged and of a young man's glasses removed from his head so that some racist pig could put his cigarette out on them and return them to his head was enlightening, and told a story I never heard in school. Watching people sternly hold their ground while people SPIT on them was more than shocking. And I didn't know what non-violent protest really was until that day. I never learned about the massacres in Tulsa and Wilmington. And I'm sure there's a lot that even the most educated among us will never know.
As a result, I was part of the problem for a very long time. Not because I was a mean person, but because I didn't see it. I never got the message. Not in school, not ever.
Not teaching the bad and the ugly along with the good hurts ALL of us.
Last night, the NCGOP gave Donald Trump a standing ovation when he spoke of keeping critical race theory out of schools. Ok, I don't know much about critical race theory or what that entails, but I do know that I want my kids to know what happened. I want us all to know what happened. I believe that most people are reasonable, and if everyone was exposed to the ugly truth of our history, we would be less inclined to repeat it.
Gratitude for this powerful snd important reminder of why truth is first and essential step to reconciliation, followed by reparations in order to make America the democratic, just and fully equal society we have claimed to be, but not yet earned.
You again hit the nail on the head, Dan Rather. There is no place for fairy tales in our history books, and we cannot learn from our mistakes if we don’t know what they are. Would there possibly be less racism today if we had understood all along how our ancestors torched Tulsa’s Black Wall Street out of greed and insecurity? The “rule of thumb” then was that if you cannot succeed fairly, you eliminate the competition. That strategy lives on in today’s current attempts to suppress voting. The pathetic truth is that in both instances, what insecure racists are actually screaming is “We know that we are losers, and we have to cheat in order to get what we want!” We must try never again let injustice carry the day.
Today, I finished the book, "Don't Let Them Bury My Story" by Viola Ford Fletcher. A must read.
Liz Feichter: this was the most shameful history of our Country. No, it wasn’t taught in schools (class of 55) nor in college during an extra term for those who signed up for it. How many more hidden histories will appear?
thanks. i would suggest that you might get a copy of “ocoee burning” myra kinnie. just to see at the same time central florida’s families of color were experiencing similarities.
As a retired teacher who has been out of teaching for 15 years, I can speak to what has and hasn’t been taught by schools in Florida. We did not teach the truth concerning our country’s history during the 20 years that I taught. I am not hopeful that this will be corrected. I read daily about states’ legislatures trying to stop any truthful updates about our history as it relates to treatment of minorities especially Black History. This is detrimental to our democracy! We must know the truth or how will we make decisions about our future. My eyes are open and I will not turn away. This is not an option no matter what Republicans try to do to stop this process.
President Biden's speech at the Greenwood Cultural Center in Tulsa on June 1st is worth watching in its entirety if you have not. Or reading the full transcript if you prefer. The details of the massacre and destruction that happened there 100 years ago are horrific and almost unbelievable. As well as the fact that a century ago 30,000 Ku Klux Klan members in full regalia marched down Pennsylvania Ave in Washington DC, and that dozens of members in the US Congress as well as state governors were open Klan members. But Biden's remark about how back then the Klan was against guys like himself who were Catholic caught my attention and forced me to read about the history of the KKK.
I did not realize that religious discrimination, specifically Protestant Klan members being against Catholics, as well as Blacks and Jews (and others), was such a big part of the history of the KKK. And I did not know that there were actually three risings of the KKK since the US Civil War (1865, 1915, and 1950-60's). This is some very ugly and difficult history, and its maybe a little too easy for some of us (especially white folks) to dismiss the KKK as a bunch of clowns in costumes but I think that we could all probably use a serious and formal lesson about the history of the Ku Klux Klan. So here I am relearning our history and trying to help fill some holes.
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=Lif4DzRkJQM
https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/speeches-remarks/2021/06/02/remarks-by-president-biden-commemorating-the-100th-anniversary-of-the-tulsa-race-massacre/
I am embarrassed to say that at the age of 60, I knew nothing about the Tulsa Massacre. I went to a very forward thinking school & we had computer science, AP courses, even college courses, but never learned of this is history class. Teach ALL of our history, there is much to learn (good & bad) and then, try not to repeat the same mistakes over & over.
I didn't encounter to much racism growing up in the south side of Chicago. There was a lot of diversity with the children. We got to know our friends and thier families. What helped ir seemed to me was the hospitality shown to all who came into thier homes. We were told about why they left thier countries. But they showed forgiveness of what was done and were determined not to inflict pain on others or make them feel. Uncomfortable . i learned a lot from that as a child. It has helped me so much with different people of race that i have met. And even when there are people of different race and show so much anger to you i remember those other people that demonstrated forgive and love and acceptance.
This reminds me why "teach ins" during the campaign for civil and voting rights during the 1960s was important. I learned what was really happening and why. All these things that were absent from my official schooling. Nothing can be fixed if no one knows what's wrong. Truth, all of it, is paramount.
This has not only been a great look at history, but has helped me with current events. Gov Ron DeSantis (R-FL) has recently gone on a rant against Critical Race Theory. Threatening action against anyone who teaches it. And I have to admit that I was clueless as to what this was about. Until I read your article. Great job. And thank you.
Hi Dan,
Beautiful words as always! Often when reading about America I see parallels between the country and the roman empire; but I often think of Americans inability to reconcile with their past in contrast with the Germans after World War 2 ,and their ability to recognize one of the dark chapters in world history and how they moved forward with teaching about the Holocaust in their education system. Why do you think the German people where able to "swallow" their National Pride while Americans cling to theirs? Is it that the shattering of American exceptionalism would be too much for so many who cling to this idea? How do we move forward to a more perfect and just union? The world is a better place when we acknowledge our failures as well as our triumphs. Thank you for your words and take care always!
In these uncertain times, it is good to know that we still have the voice of Dan Rather to steady the decency and honesty that marked American journalism for so many years. Thank you for reporting on the history we were never taught. I also learned of the Bisbee Arizona riots, a terrible mass murder preceded by kidnapping and relocation of corporately inconvenient citizens who didn't serve the interests of a Bisbee mining Mogul who believed himself above the law. Some 2,000 people were moved, in an illegal kidnapping. The terrible shameful history of abuses of Big Corporations has never seemed so evil and blatantly self serving to me. To believe that you're entitled to remove people from their homes because they decided to strike. Unfathomable.
#DanRather @DanRather 💜Dan, you are truly observant. Even so about our past. Such a poignant piece 🌹
Are the Republicans claiming that the FBI investigation of January 6 is sufficient?
A few years ago, I watched a documentary at a church in Charlotte about MLK and non-violent protest. It was a horrifying moment in my life, the day that I discovered my education was "White Washed". What was particularly horrifying was the realization that the few pictures that I had ever seen of historic events, such as the lunch counter sit-ins, or the march across the Edmund Pettus Bridge were misrepresented. The only peaceful people there were the ones being ridiculed, beaten, and abused. Watching video of people being kicked and dragged and of a young man's glasses removed from his head so that some racist pig could put his cigarette out on them and return them to his head was enlightening, and told a story I never heard in school. Watching people sternly hold their ground while people SPIT on them was more than shocking. And I didn't know what non-violent protest really was until that day. I never learned about the massacres in Tulsa and Wilmington. And I'm sure there's a lot that even the most educated among us will never know.
As a result, I was part of the problem for a very long time. Not because I was a mean person, but because I didn't see it. I never got the message. Not in school, not ever.
Not teaching the bad and the ugly along with the good hurts ALL of us.
Last night, the NCGOP gave Donald Trump a standing ovation when he spoke of keeping critical race theory out of schools. Ok, I don't know much about critical race theory or what that entails, but I do know that I want my kids to know what happened. I want us all to know what happened. I believe that most people are reasonable, and if everyone was exposed to the ugly truth of our history, we would be less inclined to repeat it.
Gratitude for this powerful snd important reminder of why truth is first and essential step to reconciliation, followed by reparations in order to make America the democratic, just and fully equal society we have claimed to be, but not yet earned.
You again hit the nail on the head, Dan Rather. There is no place for fairy tales in our history books, and we cannot learn from our mistakes if we don’t know what they are. Would there possibly be less racism today if we had understood all along how our ancestors torched Tulsa’s Black Wall Street out of greed and insecurity? The “rule of thumb” then was that if you cannot succeed fairly, you eliminate the competition. That strategy lives on in today’s current attempts to suppress voting. The pathetic truth is that in both instances, what insecure racists are actually screaming is “We know that we are losers, and we have to cheat in order to get what we want!” We must try never again let injustice carry the day.